Nairobi, Kenya – Judging is currently under way for the inaugural Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature. The Prize will be awarded to the best unpublished short story submitted to the jurors, from anywhere in the world. This year’s contest received a total of 72 entries of which 51 were eligible for the judging phase. The submissions came from Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Kingdom of Eswatini, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Poland, Malawi, The Gambia, Sri Lanka, USA, Botswana and Tanzania. Nigeria alone had 26 entries, about 27% of the total. The youngest entrant was 19 years old while the eldest was 70. The judges include Camilla Bauer (Sweden), Dr. Paula O. M. Otukile (Botswana), Rupasinghe D. Pramudith (Sri Lanka), Henry Akubuiro (Nigeria) and Alexander Nderitu (Kenya). The longlist will be announced November 2024 and the shortlist in December 2024. The eventual winner, who will receive a cash prize and an online marketing campaign, will be announced in early 2025.

The Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature is named after its founder, Kenyan writer/critic. Alexander Nderitu. He is the Editor-in-Chief of TheAfricanGriot.com, on which the winning entry will be published. In 2017, Business Daily newspaper named Mr. Nderitu one of Kenya’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’. He is the recipient of a Share Africa Climate Fiction Award, an IHRAF Africa Playwriting Competition prize and a SEVHAGE-Agema Founders’ Prize for Criticism.

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